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Scotland’s consultant vacancies are double official tally, BMA finds

The vacancy rate among hospital consultants in Scotland is twice as high as official figures show, an analysis by doctors’ leaders has found.

While official NHS workforce figures record an already high vacancy rate of 6.8%, data obtained by the BMA’s Scottish consultants committee under a freedom of information request to the country’s health boards showed an actual rate of 13.9%.

The anomaly is explained by the exclusion of certain types of vacancies from official figures, said the committee. Vacancies that …